US Presidential election-President Michel congratulates Barack Obama on re-election |08 November 2012

In a congratulatory letter sent, President Michel said that America and Seychelles shared a similar view of international affairs, based on “shared prosperity, good governance, peace and stability”.

President Michel said: “In these times of great uncertainty in the global economy, as well as crises in governance that threaten international stability, we have appreciated your dedication towards finding solutions in partnership with the community of nations, including Seychelles.”

President Michel also praised the strong partnership between Seychelles and America in strengthening maritime security in the Indian Ocean and in combating the on-going threat of piracy in the region.

“Seychelles is currently celebrating the release of its two hostages that were being held in Somalia.  We are also encouraged that piracy attacks on the whole are decreasing. But our fisheries industry, as well as trade in general in the region, is still held hostage by the debilitating cost of piracy in the region.  The risk of attack is still there, and we must remain ever vigilant.

“The initiative led by the Republic of Seychelles in partnership with countries such as the US to track and prosecute the financiers of piracy is also a key part of the long-term solution required against piracy.

“We have confidence that the US will continue to strengthen its partnership against piracy with us, and I look forward to working with you on this,” President Michel said in his letter.

President Michel also took this opportunity to reiterate his sympathies to the American people in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and congratulate them in holding such successful elections which he described as “symbolic of the capacity of the American people to rise above adversity to become ever stronger and more resilient”.

Mr Obama swept to an emphatic re-election win over Mitt Romney on Tuesday, forging new history by transcending a dragging economy and the stifling unemployment which haunted his first term.
The 44th US president and the first African American to claim the Oval Office, was returned to power after a joyless election which appears to have deepened, rather than healed, his nation's political divides.

With a clutch of swing states including Florida still to be declared, Obama already had 303 electoral votes, well over the 270 needed to win the White House.